14th March

[chenrezig]

1757 British admiral John Byng was court-martialled and executed by firing squad on board HMS Monarch at Plymouth, for "failing to do his utmost" to relieve Minorca from the French fleet following the Battle of Minorca. In practice, his ships badly needed repair and he was relieved of his command before he could see to his ships or secure the extra forces he required.

1805 Master Betty (William Betty) played Hamlet on the London stage, aged just 14. He was such a success that the House of Commons was adjourned to enable members to watch his performance. His success was short-lived and, not long afterwards, he was hissed off the stage.

1864 English explorer Samuel Baker was the first European to see the lake he named Lake Albert after the recently deceased Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria.

1873 The Insurance Institute of Manchester was born, the first insurance institute in the world.

1885 The Mikado, a light opera by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, had its first public performance in London.

1891 The submarine Monarch laid telephone cable along the English Channel bed to prepare for the first telephone links across the Channel.

1915 World War I: Cornered off the coast of Chile by the Royal Navy after fleeing the Battle of the Falkland Islands, the German light cruiser SMS Dresden was abandoned and scuttled by her crew.

1930 A proposed tunnel linking England and France was approved by the Channel Tunnel Committee.

1945 The 617 Dambuster Squadron of the RAF dropped the heaviest bomb of the war (the 22,000-pound "Grand Slam") on the Bielefeld railway viaduct in Germany. Although known officially as the Bomb, Medium Capacity, 22,000pound, it was nicknamed 'Ten Ton Tess'.The bomb was designed by Barnes Wallis, who also designed the earlier 'bouncing bomb'. The Dambuster Pilots practiced their techniques at the Derwent Dam in Derbyshire where there is a memorial to them. Bielefeld is now twinned with many European towns including Enniskillen in Northern Ireland and Rochdale in Lancashire.

1960 The Government announced plans for a Thames Barrier to protect London from flooding.

1960 Jodrell Bank's radio telescope in Cheshire set a new record, making contact with the American Pioneer V satellite at a distance of 407,000 miles. The previous record was 290,000 miles.

1961 The New English Bible was published.

1984 Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams, was shot and wounded in an attack in central Belfast when his car was riddled with bullets.

1991 The 'Birmingham Six' were freed from jail after 16 years when their convictions for the murder of 21 people in two pubs were quashed by the Court of Appeal.

1996 Joseph O'Connor, operator of the Devon trawler Pescado, which sank in 1991 with the loss of 6 lives, was jailed for 3 years.